Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots June 5, 2018 - QB Watch List, A Big Stop in the Steel City and "Wildcats"

Episode Date: June 5, 2018

Mark Schofield chats about Ryan Finley, a big play in the Steel City, and "Wildcats." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning, welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Tuesday, June 5th, 2018. Mark Schofield back in the big chair on this beautiful Tuesday morning. Reminder to follow me over on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at Mark Schofield. Check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm one of the lead writers covering quarterbacks, offensive schemes, X's and O's, and all sorts of fun stuff. You can also check out the work at ProFootballWeekly.com, Bleacher Report, the NFL 1000 Project, and a variety of other places. A couple of things on tap today. We are going to continue with football and film.

Look at another sort of underdog type film from the 1980s. We're going to get into the top four defensive plays of the Patriots 2017-2018 season with play number four and arguably my favorite of all the Patriots defensive plays from the past season. Up first, though, we're going to hit the pause button on the storyline segment that we've been doing. We covered all of the NFC storylines so far. One or maybe one or two on each of the NFC teams, things that I'm looking to watch in the year ahead. Like I said, we're going to hit the pause button on that. Get back into some QB watch action.

We're going to talk about Ryan Finley from North Carolina State University. Finley, multiple year starter who has really put up some solid, if not spectacular numbers over the past couple of seasons. In 2016, completed 60.4% of his passes for 3,055 yards, 18 touchdowns, 8 interceptions for a quarterback rating of 135.1, an adjusted QBR over at ESPN of 66.5. Those numbers, at least the adjusted QBR, improved a bit last year. Last year, he completed 64% of his passes for 3,200 yards even, 16 touchdowns, six interceptions. QBRaden dipped a bit, 132.8, but the adjusted QBR went to 80.4. And really the game that sort of, I don't want to say put him on the map, but had some people excited about his potential in the National Football League was the September 23rd game at Florida State. That was a game that the Wolfpack won 27-21.

He completed 22 of 32 passes for 230 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions. Very clean game from him. And we saw basically clean games from him throughout the early half of the season. He did not throw an interception until October 28th in the 35-14 loss at Notre Dame. But in those final five games of the regular season, he threw an interception against Notre Dame, two against Clemson, and then one each against BC, Wake Forest, and North Carolina. So a very clean start to his year, but a bit of a mistake-filled end to his 2017 campaign. He's a player that I had already studied last summer, anticipating that perhaps he might consider coming out for the NFL draft in last year's draft. There were some thoughts that he might come out, but he's decided to go back to

school. So I've got basically two years of notes on him that I'm going to take you through right now. When I studied him last summer, these were some of the things that I saw from a strengths perspective. Very clean mechanics, does a very good job identifying leverage, alignment advantages, and other types of pre-snap advantages in that pre-snap phase. He does a very good job of moving and freezing safeties with his eyes. He can manipulate defenders at the second and third levels. Very accurate in the short and intermediate areas of the field. He can make anticipation throws in terms of progression reads. He can give you half or full field reads. So he's not limited in that sort of sense. He's very good at keeping his eyes downfield. Very good in scramble drill situations. Those are my 2016-2017 notes from studying him last year. But then as I've studied him over the past couple of weeks,

here are my recent notes on him as far as strengths. He might be who I, we thought, hoped Mason Rudolph was. I jumbled that a little bit, but basically all the hype about Mason Rudolph, if you've heard me talk about Mason Rudolph and I've done it here and elsewhere, I was always sort of underwhelmed by Rudolph. I'm not underwhelmed by Ryan Finley. I think he might be who we sort of anticipated or hoped Mason Rudolph was as a quarterback. I thought in studying him from last year's tape, he was impressive to all levels, stepped up with the deep ball, particularly some throws against Arizona State in a bowl game where he had trash at his feet where the pocket was collapsing and condensed around him. I thought it was very good with time and placement and velocity, even against the

blitz. Those are the strengths that I identified on him. Weaknesses, his accuracy can be spotty at times, especially deep, although he has cleaned it up a little bit this past season, could improve that deep accuracy. He can get panicky in the pocket at times. His offense, at least in 2016-2017, had a lot of bubbles and screens, and they also took him off the field at times. And I was curious when studying him from this past season if they would do that. Didn't do as much of that this past campaign. His play speed could be faster. In terms of a scheme fit on him, aren't Perkins or West Coast? I think those are ideal for him.

If we continue to see improvement in the deep game, he would be a very scheme diverse quarterback. And that's probably where we see the main difference between him and the Mason Rudolph comparison, or at least the connection that I've made with him and Mason Rudolph so far. Rudolph, a much better downfield passer, I think, than Ryan Finley, although Finley is improving there. And speaking of improvement, areas where I want to see this continued improvement, continued overall increase in

that deep accuracy, better play speed. And will they continue to let him do more will they put more on his plate as they get into this upcoming season and taking you through some of the plays that i really sort of liked from him you watch that game against arizona state i mentioned it earlier their bowl game in the sun bowl it does some really nice things in this game shows you some functional athleticism on a second and 14 play earlier in the game good footwork in the pocket good sliding climb in the pocket good vision to see a crease slash grass out of the corner of his eye cuts and goes up field picks up what he can with his legs again that functional athleticism continuing through the my notes from that game very impressive play early in the game. A deep ball lets this go from his own 39-yard line to the plus 8.

Not a lot of air under this throw either. He doesn't have to loft it like some quarterbacks do when they're pushing the ball downfield. Also love the footwork on this play. He makes this throw with a little bit of trash at his feet and in his face. You can see that this is a very impressive throw. I broke this down. If you want to check it out, youtube.com slash insideth pylon. I broke down Ryan Finley in this game on a video talking about

throwing through trash. And this is one of the plays I highlight. There's another play in the game where defense comes with a zero blitz situation where they're sending everybody and it's man coverage on the back end. He's very calm on this snap. It's a first and 10 play in plus territory. It's a well-placed timing and rhythm throw to the boundary that leads to a yak touchdown. Great timing and placement on the throw coupled with his calm presence in the face of the storm leads to a touchdown. So you could probably tell from my tenor and tone that I really like Ryan Finley right now. And again, summer scouting is all about baselines or in the case of quarterbacks like Finley who are experienced and you've seen for a couple of

seasons already it's seen if the trend line is moving in the right direction and for me in my study of Finley that trend line is going up I think he's a quarterback to definitely keep an eye on and let's not forget the sort of the NC State pipeline that we've seen recently from the Patriots. They drafted Jacoby Brissett. They draft the next guy up at NC State in Ryan Finley. Something to keep in mind. Up next, we're going to dive back in to our countdown of the top 10 defensive plays from the 2017-2018 season. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Tuesday edition of Locked on Patriots.

And it's time for the fourth biggest defensive play of the 2017-2018 Patriots season as determined by yours truly. Now I know, offensive guy talking defense, not always making for great podcasting or radio. But look, now we're getting into some of the real big plays of the Patriots season. By means of recap, plays or play 10, Jonathan Jones and pass breakups against the New Orleans Saints in that week two matchup. Play number nine, Eric Lee and his early game interception in that first meeting between the Patriots and the Bills.

Bills were on the move, looking to score a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, but Lee, with a nice decoy, fakes the blitz, drops off the line of scrimmage, makes the interception, snuffs out that drive. Play number eight, Daron Harmon, Stephon Gilmore, that pass deflection and interception against Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles

in the second quarter of Super Bowl 52. Play number seven, Malcolm Butler, his interception of Josh McCown in the first Jets meeting late in the first half that helped set up a Patriots drive. Jets were in position to perhaps take a 21-7 lead at that point. Play number six, a stop against the Houston Texans on third and one late in the game that forced a field goal attempt and try that set up the Brandon Cooks heroics at the end of that game. And as you heard yesterday, plays number five, David Harris, a blitz against the Los Angeles Chargers. Blows up Melvin Gordon, forces Phillip Rivers to retreat. He drops the ball. It's a loss

of 20 yards. That came at an eight-point game. Forces the Chargers basically into a third and 31 situation. Instead of perhaps at least getting a field goal on the drive, they're forced to punt. But now we get to the four, I think, defining plays of the Patriots defense this past season. And the play we're going to talk about right now is perhaps, I don't even want to say perhaps, it's my favorite defensive play of the Patriots entire campaign. This comes, and it's one of two plays we're going to talk about from this game, that Steelers-Patriots game that was so critical to the Patriots' secure and home field advantage. And if you remember that game, you probably remember that the Patriots take over midway through the fourth quarter.

They're down 24-16. They get a drive that's going. Deion Lewis opens it up with a run. We get a nice pass from Brady to Cooks for six yards to set up a 31. Patriots go with Deion Lewis, 12-yard gain off right tackle. Deion Lewis, again, another run of seven yards

on first and 10 that gets it into Steelers territory. We get an incompletion of Brandon Cooks, an incompletion in the direction of Gronkowski, but a defensive pass interference penalty. That gives the Patriots first and 10 at the Steelers 21. And now this is an eight-point game, but the Patriots take two deep shots to Amendola. Excuse me, one deep

shot to Amendola, an incompletion intended for Cooks, broken up by Artie Burns, and then Brady is sacked, forcing the Patriots on 4th and 17 to kick a 46-yard field goal. Cuts this to a 5-point game, but they have to give the football back to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Steelers take over

1st and 10 on their own, 19. With 3.52 remaining, Patriots have all three timeouts. Le'Veon Bell, left tackle for one yard. Ben Roethlisberger, a run around left end and a little scramble for five yards. Sets up a third and four situation. Steelers on their own, 25-yard line. Jim Nance, Tony Romo, take it away.

And you're at 2.40 clock running, Tony Romo, take it away. And you're at 2.40 o'clock running in New England with all three timeouts. Huge snap coming up. He's going to move Smith-Schuster around to the right side. Knock it sealed. Across the middle. Patriots there to defend it. Stop him short.

A yard short. First to get to him was Harmon. Well, you see, we talked about earlier in the game, these shallow crosses. When they come across the field, these guys are going to get in the mix. You're going to have an extra defender get down there. And when that happens, you see the safety get right down there. And Smith-Schuster thinks he has the leverage. And you see right behind him is Eli Rogers coming into the window. Now look at Harmon. And by the way, Patriots called timeout to stop it at 2.16 to go. Again, Jim Nance, Tony Romo there on the call and as you heard, Patriots took their first of the three timeouts

with 2.16 remaining and they would get the ball back. That would lead to the Brady and Gronkowski drive for the ages to put the Patriots in position to steal this one down in Pittsburgh. And I can't talk about this play enough. I wrote a piece over at LockedOnPatriots.com after this game about how blown away I was by the play from Deron Harmon. Because the Steelers have the perfect play call.

They come out in a 3-by-1 with a bunch look to the right. Juju Smith-Schuster is in that bunch, flanked outside the tight end Jesse James. They put Antonio Brown alone to the left. They run three verticals. They put Antonio Brown alone on the left, runs a vertical. Le'Veon Bell runs a seam route out of the backfield. That's a route that they had been hitting in that game. Jesse James runs a vertical as well. That basically clears out or at least it's designed to clear out, the secondary for the two underneath crossing routes.

We get Juju Smith-Schuster first on the shallow route, and then they use what's called a follow concept, where Eli Rogers is the inside bunch receiver. He starts outside and then comes behind Juju Smith-Schuster a little bit deeper, but he basically follows him. The idea being the defense will see it and collapse on that first crosser, leaving the second one open. And that is what happens.

But because of the situation, what happens is, you know, Roethlisberger throws the shallow route first to Juju Smith-Schuster. He has a little bit of time, not much, but he sees it open for a split second. The Patriots are in an interesting defensive package. They come out with four down defenders. Trey Flowers, Adam Butler, Dietrich Wise, and Eric Lee. They're down up front with Flowers and Lee on the edges, but then they have seven defensive backs on the field. Cornerback Stephon Gilmore, Malcolm Butler, Eric Rowe, and safeties Harmon, Devin McCourty, Patrick Chun, and Jordan Richards. They're in basically a two-deep man under look, and Harmon is the deep one-half field safety over the bunch. But as soon as he sees Juju Smith-Schuster coming on that shallow, like Tony Romo said, he just collapses immediately downfield on it. When Juju Schuster catches the football, he's about two yards short,

and he thinks he has enough space to cut upfield and get it, but Harmon jumps it perfectly, sticks him and stops him a yard short of the first down marker. There's in the LockedOnPatriots.com article, which you can find. I'll tweet it out again. You can see the end zone camera where Harmon recognizes it perfectly. Just great football intelligence, football IQ. Crush collapses downfield on it, stops him short,

and it sets up the heroics at the end of that game. And we're not done talking about this game on this countdown, as you probably expect. But for my money, this is my favorite defensive play the entire Patriots season. I can't talk about it enough. There are three plays that I think were bigger and better. Maybe the next one people could quibble with three and four when we get to it. But for my money, I just love this play.

Wrote about it. Could talk about it for days. That will do it for this installment. Counting down the Patriots' top ten plays. We've got three left to get to. Actually, four left to get to. One is a two-parter. That's going to be tomorrow. Up ahead, we're going back to football

and film. We're going to talk a little Goldie Hawn. That's ahead with me, Mark Schofield and Locked on Patriots. Let's rock! Let's rock! Come on and boogie! Boogie down! Boogie down! Boogie down! Run those coolers out of town! Boogie! Yeah! Those are the cheerleaders from the 1986 movie Wildcats. It stars Goldie Hawn as the daughter of a famous high school area football coach

who wants to coach her own team. It's been her dream. She's currently the girls' track coach at a very upscale high school, Prescott High School, where her dad is the football coach. But she's given the shot to coach a high school football team of her own. It's an inner city Chicago high school, central high school. It's not the best of areas. It's not the best of environments. And she comes into it sort of wild-eyed and believing that she can sort of make a difference. But the players that she's coaching really do not want her there.

But the movie goes from there. What you heard there, again, are the cheerleaders who are a nice little comedic backdrop to this movie. As you might expect, of course, the climactic end into this game is when she has to go and coach against her dad Prescott High School in the city championship and she does turn the program around some interesting names in this movie Woody

Harrelson plays the quarterback Wesley Snipes in there as well even LL Cool J has a minor role in this movie and it doesn't get a lot of great reviews let Let's put it that way. It was panned by critics and the audience as a like. It was, you know, a lot of people pointed to the fact that it exacerbated sort of a white savior narrative that we sometimes see in movies where you see, you know, a person like Goldie Hawn come in and sort of turn around an environment like this. So people ridiculed it in that way as well. But it came out in 86 when I was a kid growing up. I did sort of appreciate it. And it has some sort of a bit of a sentimental aspect to it as well, at least for me, because my mom taught in Dorchester, Massachusetts for decades in not the best of areas, not the best of neighborhoods, not the best of environments,

but she went in day in and day out. And so when I first saw this movie as a kid, obviously I identified my mom with Goldie Hawn. And so there's sort of a personal sentimental nature to this as well. I think it's a nice little football movie. It's not a critical success by any means. Obviously, it got ripped apart by critics, and I mentioned sort of the white savior aspect to it as well. So there are criticisms to be laid at its feet,

but I do think that as you see her sort of turn around the team and turn around their attitudes towards her, there's a nice little message there as well. And so don't want to spend too much time on it. Probably not going to make anybody sort of top 10, top 5, maybe even top 15 of football movies of all time. But because I like it and it's my show, I'm going to pitch, make a little pitch for it.

So Wildcats, 1986. Check it out if you haven't seen it before. That will do it for today's show. I will be back tomorrow. Probably get back into storylines. We'll have our number three play slash plays of the Patriots' top 10 defensive plays of the 2017-2018 season.

And we're getting close to the end here of our movies here. We've only got a handful left. And we're getting close to the end here of our movies here. We've only got a handful left. And you can probably tell I've been ducking some. Because there are some that are really going to tug at heartstrings that we might have to start getting into.

But I might be able to stave those off for another day. Either way, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.